"What are you?"

"I am a man

-and a Frenchman!"

She looked at him long and keenly; and at length said, "I believe it!"

"These are scenes," remarked Lecomte, somewhat relieved," God knows if they be necessary!-scenes which overthrow many a dream of honour, and crimson many a proud cheek."

"And you, too, have your dreams of honour!You-a private soldier-the subject of the lash!” He smiled grimly.

Subject," replied he, "I may be, and no doubt am; but the lash shall never exert its sovereignty over me."

"I believe it!" said the damsel again.

"But you must not think more harshly of my unhappy comrade than you can help. He was guilty of no crime, but that of calculating time falsely; and deceived as he was by love-"

"I know all. No matter: his wounds will soon heal, the nuptial rites will be recommenced, and your comrade will forget his dishonour,”—he sighed heavily, as a crowd of instances rushed upon his memory,"for his bride is not a Frenchwoman!”

Aignan Lecomte started as she pronounced these words, while her cheek glowed, and her lip curled with a beautiful pride; and as her eyes met his, they shot forth a fire which seemed to penetrate into the innermost recesses of his being. He walked on with her to a small but somewhat genteel-looking house near the sea-shore, where she resided with her widowed mother;

and there the two chance-acquaintances took leave by shaking hands.

It must not be supposed, however, that they had arrived at this point of intimacy all at once. When the excited feelings which had thrown them into contact had subsided, they found themselves unconsciously on a footing somewhat closer than that which is warranted by the acquaintanceship of half an hour. They glided gradually, therefore, into a conversation partaking of the tone of confidence generally assumed at their years; and before they had reached the termination of the walk, Aignan Lecomte knew the whole history, and something of the character, of his fair companion; while Matilde St. Amand was aware that the private soldier beside her was descended of genteel parentage, and had received a liberal education at Caen.

As for the more minute discoveries which took place between them, these have not arrived at the knowledge of the chronicler. He is led to conjecture, however, that Matilde appeared to Lecomte in the likeness of a young woman of twenty or twenty-one, somewhat dark of complexion and melancholy in temperament, and possessing withal that sort of spiritual beauty which inspires a love resembling more a devotion than a passion. Aignan himself might have been taken for her brother; and perhaps it was this mutual likeness which first drew them together. There are more sympathies in the world than those developed by the laws of chemistry!

He was taller and darker, but not more robust. His figure, indeed, was as slight as a girl's, but then it was knit together like whipcord. The fierce and con

stant working of his mind appeared to operate on the muscles of his body, which seemed to have acquired strength from the violent action to which they were habituated. An observer, however, would have said that this extreme tension would be of short durationthat the bow would soon break, and become useless; while the eyes, shedding a wild and strange light over his dusky features and beneath his coal-black hair, might have indicated to the physiognomists of the period a troubled life and an early grave.

Nevertheless, Aignan Lecomte was all the better for this adventure. The day-dreams in which he was accustomed to indulge had of late been almost insufficient for the solace of a spirit galled and fretted by the untoward circumstances of life. Many a fairy edifice had been broken into ruins by the sound of the lash -many a gay and golden vision put to flight by a drunken shout, an impious oath, or a brutal jest. He had not as yet fleshed his maiden sword -no opportunity of acquiring distinction had occurred; shut up in a garrison from the very commencement of his career of arms, he had been condemned to a slothful and inglorious life. How different was this from the fate which he had anticipated! His "comrades in glory" were lower in mind than the lowest populace of Caen; his greatest feat of arms was to attend a parade or an execution; and the highest reward he could expect for perseverance and diligence in his profession was exemption from punishment!

Now, however, his thoughts, if nothing more, had a new employment. They did not waste themselves, as

heretofore, on shadows too unsubstantial to serve as a buckler against the disgusts of the world. Matilde,

“A woman, yet a spirit too,”

served as a refuge for his wearied mind; his dream, since he knew her, "was not all a dream;" his purposes, before so vague and fleeting, had received a definite direction; a star had appeared in the dark heaven of his destiny, to guide and enlighten him.

CHAPTER II.

THE TOWER OF FRANCIS THE FIRST.

THE absences of Aignan Lecomte from the barracks at length became so frequent as to rouse the curiosity of his comrades, although he had always taken care to reappear before the hour struck which delivered him up to the discipline of the ranks. There was, in fact, not a soldier in the garrison, whose conduct, even in the minutiae of etiquette, was more irreproachable; and the officers looked upon Aignan Lecomte as one of those machines of habit that are shaped by nature into the instruments of military ambition.

Among those who were most anxious to pry into the secrets of Aignan Lecomte, was a quondam schoolfellow, called Letournois, who had attained a rank somewhat higher than that of our visionary in the same company. There had once existed a sort of rivalry between the two young men, in which, however, the talents and activity of Letournois were no match for the wild enthusiasm of his competitor. A series of petty defeats, both in the college and the fencing-room, had embittered his spirit; and even after he had found himself, through the influence of his friends, in a situation to command the object of his dislike, he still continued to regard him with habitual jealousy and fear. As for Lecomte, he neither loved nor hated his fellow-towns

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